In article <DG7G93.By2@midway.uchicago.edu>, meron@cars3.uchicago.edu says...>>In article <45btph$b39@shore.shore.net>, Whittet@shore.net (Whittet) writes:>>In article <AC9D4C3896686435F@cara.demon.co.uk>, peter@cara.demon.co.uk says.>..>>>>>>In article <457e55$7i5@st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz>,>>>don@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Don Stokes) wrote:>>>>>>>I think there are five issues that keep feet & inches alive for "casual">>>>measurements:>>>>>>>>i. Familiarity (self explanatory)>>>>>>But short lived. I can't really *think* in feet and stuff any more.>>>>>>>ii. Divisibility. 10's integer factors are two and five; 12's are two, th>re>>>e>>>> four and six, making a halves, quarters, thirds, sixths and twelths of> a>>> >>>> foot easily represented.>>>>>>Again, metric quarters are easy (two and a half tenths) and so are thirds>>>(three and a bit tenths). >>>>>>Three and a "bit" tenths? How much is a bit exactly?>>>>Twelve is more easily divisable than ten in a practical sense >>because it has nore factors.>>This is all very nice, but we are using a decimal number system. It >is possible, plausible indeed, that a duodecimal (base 12) system >would indeed have been more convenient. However, that's water under >the bridge. At the time when positional notation was just getting >accepted, it was possible to go either way, now it is a bit late for >this. And, there are obvious advantages to having your number system >and measuring unit system coincide.

Time: measured in a sexigesimal system hours, minutes, seconds

Space: measured in a sexigesimal system degrees, minutes, seconds
further divided into stadia, 1/600th degree

Volume: measured in terms of cubes whose sides are units of length
based on the above divisions.

all worked out into inches, feet, yards, rods, furlongs, chains etc;
to give a geocomensurate standard of measurement which is far more
precise than the meter and has withstood 5 millenia of use with
very small variation.

>>Mati Meron

On any historical timescale the decimal system is a mere anachronistic
fad favored by people who want everyone to think in increments of a
power of ten instead of having the choice of using a power of two,
three, four, six or twelve whichever proportion is most appropriate.

That attitude is nothing more than the typical academic lockstep;

ie; don't think about it ...
just answer by rote and then we will all be in
agreement which makes it easy for the
moderators to get things organised.